Evaluating Abstract Art: Relation between Term Usage, Subjective Ratings, Image Properties and Personality Traits

Area of Science:

• Experimental Aesthetics
• Psychology
• Computer Vision

Background:

• Uncertainty in terminology poses a challenge in experimental aesthetics.
• Subjective descriptions of abstract art lack standardized links to objective properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between subjective terminology used to describe abstract artworks and their objective statistical image properties.
• To explore how personality traits influence aesthetic preferences and evaluations.

Main Methods:

• Experiment 1: Recorded spontaneous participant terms for abstract artworks and correlated them with image properties (e.g., PHOG Self-Similarity, Anisotropy, Complexity, color values).
• Experiment 2: Developed rating scales based on frequent terms and assessed correlations between descriptive/evaluative ratings and image properties.
• Correlated participant ratings and preferences with 'Big Five Inventory' personality traits.

Main Results:

• Structure-describing terms correlated with image properties like PHOG Self-Similarity, Anisotropy, and Complexity.
• Emotion-associated terms correlated with color values.
• Significant correlations found between descriptive ratings, evaluative ratings, and objective image properties.
• Neuroticism correlated with preferences for more complex images and a different understanding of complexity.

Conclusions:

• Objective image properties are associated with subjective terms used to describe and evaluate abstract art.
• The description, evaluation, and preference for low-level statistical properties of abstract art are linked to personality traits.